Look Again.

We have faith. With God, the impossible is possible. We got this. We got this... and then the storm hits and we are back at it again with all the feels, our fears and our scrambling for control. 

In reality, there is a fine line between faith and doubt and I’ve faltered between the two more than I care to admit. 

When we fix our eyes on Jesus- We can conquer anything.  But when our eyes are diverted, we sink. It is a pretty simple formula. One minute confidently walking on water, the next- a terror filled, spiral out of control. It’s funny how life is like that. 

When will we learn to remember?

When will we learn, that we were never the ones in control?

We will, when we learn to look again. 

Peter confidently cried out to Jesus to call him out on the water. At this point, the storm and the depth of the sea were inconsequential, they were nothing compared to the glory of looking Jesus in the face. He was on a faith high, ready to face anything, until the wind and the waves, began to beckon, picking up speed and dragging his attention away from the gaze of Jesus and onto the danger. He immediately begins to sink.

Did you catch that? When we focus on the circumstances, we sink. When we look at the storm instead of Jesus, we sink. When we look anywhere but Jesus, you guessed it- we sink. 

It only takes a split second, but it has dire consequences. 

Praise Jesus, we aren’t doomed to our sinking. Praise Jesus, we aren’t doomed to our circumstances or our sadness or even our unraveling. For even though we are a fickle people and we look away- we can look again. The minute we do, that storm doesn’t seem so intense any more.  It’s about focus. It's about perspective. It's about our gaze.  

Where are you looking to- your circumstances, or your Savior? 

Are you interested in taking a season to go deeper in your faith? Check out the DTS and Secondary Course options offered at YWAM San Diego/ Baja. 

words + photos by Tiffany Lambert.
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Tiffany is full time staff with YWAM SDB and leads our Photo-Storytelling DTS.

Anointed.

Art has such a powerful way of breaking through its’ medium of communication to speak to the heart + the soul in meaningful ways. Being an artist is not some frivolous distraction from the so called spiritual things- such as being a pastor or a missionary in the traditional sense. It is a calling. God anoints us to create, not only for his glory but for the simple sake of beauty. There’s no secular vs. sacred here, it is God breathing life and creativity into our voice and our art. Art is in essence deeply spiritual, yet we tend to compartmentalize. We separate what we feel as “serving God” on one side and on the other we cling tightly to our passions, our dreams, our desires not wanting to give up control. When God so deeply wants to co-create with us in those things as well, to anoint us to be a voice of truth and beauty in this world. 

“See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, 4 to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, 5 in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft.”

— EXODUS 31:2-5

Have you ever noticed: the very first person who is mentioned as being filled with the spirit of God in scripture was Bezalel, an artist! Not only was he filled with the Spirit of God, the word says God fills him with “ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship.” Woah. As an artist myself, this blows me away. God not only wants to partner with me in my creativity, He wants to anoint me with skill, with craftsmanship. More than ever this makes me open up to God, and allow Him to play deeper role in my creative process. To give Him the space to breath life, breath creativity, and to give anointing to what I am crafting so that it leaves a deeper impact. 

My prayer for you, for me is that God would anoint us, take us deeper and fill us with His spirit as artists. That we would be God honoring in not only what we create, but in our character, in how we make people feel, and in the beauty that we craft.

Take courage my friend, for you are anointed for art. 

YOUR GIFT AS AN ARTIST IS NOT SEPARATE FROM YOUR CALLING;
THEY CAN BE ONE IN THE SAME!

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Join us for one of our 2 artistic focused DTS run each year in September: the PHOTO-STORYTELLING DTS at our San Antonio Del Mar campus and the MUSIC + MISSIONS DTS at our Ensenada campus. 

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words + photos by Tiffany Lambert.

Tiffany is full time staff with YWAM SDB and leads our Photo-Storytelling DTS.

These Dry Bones.

I've had some things rattling around in my mind lately. I've had desires to know God on a deeper level and to be known on a deeper level- yet something is holding me back, I feel paralyzed in some ways. I know my desires, I see them within my grasp- yet they are, or feel anyways, unattainable.

Here's the deal: I've become comfortable, paralyzed. With the advent of social media things have changed. I'm not necessarily living in an obvious sin. I'm doing full time ministry, I serve God, I pray, I live by faith for my ministry & finances- but the last few months I've felt like something was missing. I've felt dry. I've felt disconnected, numb. The truth is, I've been reduced to bones.

Sometimes we, or at least myself over here, have this picture of the enemy-  that he uses these out of the box ways to hinder us, in our callings and in our life & honestly this is, in many ways, true. Something I have realized however, is that we often times do his job for him. We disqualify ourselves, we take ourselves out of the race. We allow ourselves to be silently paralyzed, without recognizing the connection. I am being honest here friends,  I am preaching to myself as well.

I have felt this conviction so strongly lately. When I have a couple of free minutes- I end up on social media. When I wake up, & right before I go to bed- I inevitably end up on social media. Throughout my day I end up there, even when i don't mean to be. I do recognize the irony that this post is being shared on social media & I'm not here to villainize it- but I am here to recognize its dangers.

I am a firm believer that social media is a tool that we can use to bring awareness, to highlight testimony of our God: who he is and how he works. It can be used to build relationships, to share prayer requests, to communicate life happenings, to share joy and sorrows & those are all good things! Social media is not evil, but there is a catch, there is a downfall, when it takes the highest place in our lives. When it eliminates us from feeling anything real, from being able to hold an intentional conversation in person. When it eliminates us from really living a life outside of cyber space. When it does these things, it can be detrimental.  Social Media can be like a silent poison, slowly suffocating us, while disengaging us from reality, separating us from who God is or why we are even here on this earth in the first place. As i began to process all of these things, and recognize this in my own life God pointed me to Ezekiel 37.

“The Lord took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the Lord to a valley filled with bones. He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?”
“O Sovereign Lord,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that.”
Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.
”

— Ezekiel 37:1-6

I've read these verses many times, they are some of my favorite verses in the Bible. I love the idea that the Lord wants to partner with us to bring life, even when he has all the power to do it on his own. I've always associated these verses with calling forth life into those who are dry because they don't know the Lord, but this time God showed me a different side of this. Just because I know the Lord does not mean that I am immune to becoming dry bones. He spoke to me that these verses reference his church as well, his people becoming dry and desolate. When his earnest desire is for them to be lively, vibrant beings. 

As christians, we live in the tension between heaven and earth. We live in the tension of being saved + living for the hope of eternity and feeling weary + feeling overwhelmed with the sin and destruction that seemingly reigns in this world. But rather than accepting the way things are, rather than going into dry bones mode- I feel God calling us to a different option. I feel God calling us to wake up. The state of things should fuel us into intercession and the standing in the gap for the state of our community, our city, our nation, our world.

We allow ourselves to be paralyzed and numbed by social media, living like the walking dead. All the while, God is calling us into deeper relationship, into a partnership with him in breathing life into dry bones. This starts with individuals, with the church coming alive, aligning themselves with God, stepping into their identity and destiny and calling others to do the same. When non-believers see someone sold out for Jesus, walking in freedom and their calling it is often irresistible- why then are so many people turned off of Christianity, by the church? Because oftentimes we are walking in religion, not the true life that Jesus Christ brings.

God created us to live in constant, living and vibrant relationship with him. Please church, here me out. Come alive again. Prophecy life and breath into your own lives and then extend that to others. Come alive again and bring jesus into your workplace, your relationships, friendships, assignments, hobbies, days and nights and things will be dramatically different. There is so much more available to us than comfortable christianity, there is so much more for us than dry bones.

WORDS + PHOTOS BY TIFFANY LAMBERT. TIFFANY WORKS WITH YWAM SAN DIEGO/BAJA IN THE AREAS OF DISCIPLESHIP & COMMUNICATIONS.